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Duration	Level	Prerequisites
10 min	Beginner	Lab 04 complete (interactive copilot session running)

Overview

The plugin is distributed through the GitHub Copilot CLI plugin marketplace (the same surface Claude Code uses). After /plugin marketplace add and /plugin install, the CLI reports Installed 31 skills, which is the full skill catalog the plugin ships with. Those skills are grouped into four logical sub-agents:

Sub-agent	Purpose
copilot-studio-manage	Clone, push, pull, sync agent content between local YAML and the Copilot Studio cloud
copilot-studio-author	Create and edit YAML (topics, actions, knowledge, triggers, variables)
copilot-studio-test	Test published agents (point-test, batch suites, eval analysis)
copilot-studio-advisor	Design guidance, agent review, troubleshooting

How you reach them in the copilot CLI:

• The 31 skills carry user-invocable: false in their plugin metadata. You do not type a slash command to call a skill by name. Copilot CLI matches the skill description against your natural-language prompt and loads the right skill automatically.
• The four sub-agents are explicit. Use the /agent slash command to open a picker and pin the conversation to one of them, or reference the agent by name in your prompt, or pass --agent=<name> on the copilot command line.

The same four roles also surface in VS Code chat (Lab 02 extension) as friendly display names in the agent picker: Copilot Studio Advisor, Copilot Studio Author, Copilot Studio Manage, Copilot Studio Test. The CLI is the primary workshop surface; VS Code chat is shown at the end as an optional check.

Learning objectives

• Add the plugin marketplace and install the plugin from inside an active copilot session.
• Confirm the 31 skills are registered with /skills list.
• Drive a skill via natural-language prompt and observe Copilot CLI auto-route to the right one.
• Pin one of the four sub-agents with /agent and have it run its bundled skill.

Exercise 5.1 — Add the marketplace and install the plugin

1. With your copilot session from Lab 04 still open, run:

    /plugin marketplace add microsoft/skills-for-copilot-studio
   

2. Then install the plugin:

    /plugin install copilot-studio@skills-for-copilot-studio
   

3. copilot reports a successful install. The plugin slug is copilot-studio; the marketplace slug is skills-for-copilot-studio.

Exercise 5.2 — Verify the skills are registered (CLI)

1. At the copilot prompt, run:

    /skills list
   

2. The CLI prints the 31 skills the plugin ships with, grouped by the four sub-agents (manage, author, test, advisor).

3. To confirm the four sub-agents are also visible, run:

    /agent
   

   The picker lists Copilot Studio Advisor, Copilot Studio Author, Copilot Studio Manage, and Copilot Studio Test alongside any built-in agents. Press Esc to dismiss the picker for now; you will use it in Exercise 5.4.

Note: typing a bare @ at the copilot prompt triggers file path completion (Copilot CLI uses @ for attaching files, not for selecting agents). Agent selection uses the /agent slash command, the --agent=<name> command-line flag, or a natural-language reference inside a prompt.

Exercise 5.3 — Use a skill: list the YAML kinds

Skills in this plugin are not user-invocable by name. Copilot CLI reads each skill’s description and loads the matching one when your natural-language ask lines up. The list-kinds skill is the cheapest possible proof the plugin is wired: it reads a JSON schema bundled with the plugin and prints every Copilot Studio YAML kind value, grouped by category. No tenant, no agent, no Copilot Studio API call.

1. At the copilot prompt, ask:

    List all available kinds in the Copilot Studio YAML schema
   

2. Copilot CLI matches the request against the list-kinds skill description and loads the skill. When the skill needs to run its bundled Node script (schema-lookup.bundle.js), the CLI may ask you to approve the shell call. Choose Yes for this run.

3. The response is a categorized list of YAML kind values grouped under headings such as Triggers (for example OnRecognizedIntent, OnConversationStart), Actions (SendActivity, Question, SetVariable), Dialogs, Cards, Knowledge Sources, and Inputs.

Tip: this is also the fastest way to discover the discriminator value you need when you start authoring topics or actions in later labs. Keep the skill in mind as a reference lookup.

Exercise 5.4 — Pin the Advisor sub-agent

For longer, multi-turn work you can pin the session to one of the four sub-agents. The Copilot Studio Advisor is the safest one to try first: it owns the schema-lookup and validation skills, and it never edits YAML files on its own.

1. At the copilot prompt, run:

    /agent
   

2. In the picker, select Copilot Studio Advisor. Subsequent messages route to that sub-agent until you switch agents or close the session.

3. Ask the Advisor:

    Look up the SendActivity schema definition
   

4. The Advisor calls its bundled lookup-schema skill and returns the SendActivity definition, including required properties, optional properties, and any related types worth knowing.

Tip: from outside an interactive session you can do the same in one shot with copilot --agent=copilot-studio-advisor --prompt "Look up the SendActivity schema definition". The four sub-agents are addressable by their slug (copilot-studio-manage, copilot-studio-author, copilot-studio-test, copilot-studio-advisor).

Exercise 5.5 — Optional: verify the same agents in VS Code chat

If you installed the VS Code extension in Lab 02, the same four sub-agents appear in the VS Code chat agent picker as friendly display names. This step is informational; the workshop continues in the copilot CLI.

1. In VS Code, open the Chat view and click the agent picker (the dropdown showing the current agent).

2. Scroll the list. You should see:

   • Copilot Studio Advisor
   • Copilot Studio Author
   • Copilot Studio Manage
   • Copilot Studio Test

Verification Checkpoint

Before proceeding, verify:

• /plugin marketplace add reported success without errors.
• /plugin install copilot-studio@skills-for-copilot-studio reported success without errors.
• The install confirmation reads Installed 31 skills. Use /skills list to see them.
• /skills list prints all 31 skills grouped under manage, author, test, and advisor.
• /agent shows Copilot Studio Advisor, Copilot Studio Author, Copilot Studio Manage, and Copilot Studio Test in the picker.
• Asking Copilot to list available kinds in the Copilot Studio YAML schema produced a categorized list (the list-kinds skill ran).
• With the Advisor pinned via /agent, asking for the SendActivity schema definition returned the schema (the lookup-schema skill ran inside the sub-agent).

Next Steps

Proceed to Lab 06 — Clone the agent into your workspace.